Hosiery



July 19,'1938. f A SALEMBIER, Jrg 2,123,971

HOSIERY Filed NOV. l, 1935 y. Q I 19 Patented `luly 19, 1938 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE HOSIERY Maurice lbert Salembier, Jr., Plandome, N.Y. Application November 1, 1935, Serial No. 47,782

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved method of manufacturingsilk stockings and to an improved stockingmade thereby.

In the prior manufacture of silk stockings, diiiculty has beenencountered in the operationof the knitting machines because the knotsin the yarn frequently failed to pass through the carrier or eye of theneedle thereby breaking the yarn. Absence of thread due to breaks or toknots opening, automatically stops the machines and causes a press-offof the partially finished stocking which is usually a total loss. If theknots do pass thrcughnthe eye of the neeC;.'.-ir, they -cause such avisible thickening or spot in the fabric of the stocking which isusually so obvious on the leg of the wearer, that such stockings arerejects and sold either at a reduced price as seconds or discardedentirely. rllhe lowered emciency of machines which cannot deliver fullproduction because ofv knots is also highly objectionable and costly. yThe thread from which such stockings have been mader up to this time hasa plurality of single strands., each of which is first wound on singlestrand bobbins from the silk skein. After winding, these single strandsmay be twisted, and several bobbins each containing one strand are thenplaced on a doubling machine or a machine of the doubler-twister typewhich machines form the multiple strand thread. At a single 'strandrun-out or break in the doubling operation all strands were usuallybrokenA either automatically or by hand to insure against less than thefull number of strands from entering the thread. Some of the doubledthread was then drawn back from the feed rolls and receiving bobbinuntil the full number of strands was found and a large knot common toall strands was then formed, such knot causing the press-offs andrejects. Knots common to all strands were also formed in making largepackages from two or more small bobbins.

These objectionable features are overcome in accordance with the presentinvention by providing a thread in which the doubling knots andpackaging knots which were common to all strands are eliminated and theknots necessary in case of breaks or run-outs in the doubling operationare tied in the individual Strands of the 5g thread or yarn. Such knotsare tied, preferably prior to twisting the yarn so that althoughindividual strands of the thread may be knotted at various places, thereare no knots which are common to the entire number of Istrands of 55thread, and no thickened portions which will fail to pass the eye of theneedle to cause the pressois and no knotted or thickened portions tocause flaws or rejects in the finished stockings.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear from thefollowing disclosure thereof, taken in connection with the attacheddrawing which illustrates a preferred form of embodiment of my inventionand in which:

Figure 1 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of a partially untwistedlength of silk yarn from which my improved hosiery is made, v

Figure 2 is an elevation of a blank for full fashioned hosiery,

Figure 3 a perspective view of a completed stocking, and, v

Figure 4 is an enlarged diagrammatic'view of several courses of knittedfabric composing the stocking.

Natural silk stockings as commonly made on knitting machines may beeither full fashioned or of the seamless type, such stockings having aplurality of knitted courses of a multipleA strand, multiple twistthread generally known as hosiery tram. Such thread is commonly formedinto a suitable package containing the desired amount of thread, suchpackages frequently being of a cone shape. For commercialknitting,`large size packages are preferable as they permit an increaseproduction of the machines and a reductionof the number of stops anddelays du'e to thread running out.

In order to obtain full production by the use of large packages and atthe same time to eliminate press-offs and rejects occasioned by theknots which have heretofore been found in all large .packages, Icarefully control the entire sequence of steps in the manufacture of thehosiery commencing preferably with the initial winding of the silkstrands onto single strand bobbins from the silk skein. By such controlI avoid the formation of knots common to all strands which preventcontinuous operation and I thereby elim- -inate losses due to press-ous.I also produce stockings, all of which are free from knots common to allstrands and therefore free from uneven spots or conspicuous knotsalthough they have single strand doubling knots at the breaks orrun-outs in the doubling operation. 'I'he i`nven- 'E tion is applicableeither to the single carrier thread type of stockings or the multiplecarrier type as desred. As a preliminary step in my improved method ofproducing stockings, I ilrst wind a length of single strand fiber whichis equivalent in length to the total length of the thread from which theLstockings-are to be made. Winding such a large quantity of thread on asingle bobbin is not only highly advantageous from the standpoint ofeconomy in time and labor in throwing, but it is one of the means ofeliminating knots as will appear hereinafter.

Subsequent to the formation of the single strand, I perform the doublingoperation by which I form a multiple strand, multiple twist thread fromthe desired number of single strands. While I prefer to carry out thisstep on a modification of a type of well known doubling machine known asthe doubler-twister combined machine which simultaneously doubles thethread and gives it a relatively low twist, I can, of course, carry itout on other machines that will meet the necessary conditions. As theprincipal step in operating such machines, single strand knots are tiedat breaks or runouts,urunouts being due to exhaustion of the singlestrand and breaks being due to loops or waste catching in the drop armsof the stop motion mechanism which stops the Winding bobbin when athread strand breaks.

In using the larger single strand bobbins, the number of knots due torun-outs are materially reduced.

In order to tie single strand knots successfully and without waste, thewinding of the doubled thread should be stopped at a single strand breakso that the end of the broken strand does not reach a point of twist andbecome intertwined in the other continuous strands. The broken strand isthen tied -without destroying the continuity of the other strands andnone of the wound thread need be drawn back from the winding bobbin.

After the single strand knot is tied, the doubling operation isre-started and the separate strands are uniformly tensioned as they areentirely independent of each other. Uniformlty of tension in each strandis beneficial in that stockings are often stretched considerably andfull elastic qualities are desirable. V

The package that is made from the doubled thread is usually made on someform of coning machine although in some cases, the bobbin on which thedoubled thread is wound is used directly. As a rule, however, thedoubled thread frequently is transferred through several operationsafter doubling including twisting and packaging. In each of theseoperations as well as in the winding and doubling operations, I preferto make a spool for spool transfer. By this, I mean that one bobbin iscompletely transferred to fill another bobbin so that the final packageis made without joining doubled threads from different bobbins.

The advantages of spool for spool transfer in making large packages isthat there is no sudden demarcation between parts of the thread and nochange in size, twist, or nature of the strands, In my package, thereare no knots` common to all strands because I eliminate such knots inthe doubling operation and in the packaging operation by spool for spooltransfer even though the preferred package may be of any desired size.An eight ounce package, which is one convenient size as it usually willmake twelve pairs of stockings, dependingr ori the denier and number ofstrands, "has none 'of vthe knots common to all strands rather than thethree or more which exist in the best prior packages.

Certain operations which were heretofore thought necessary are alsoeliminated, particularly the redraw and cleaning operations. Themultiple strand, multiple twist thread with knots in the single strandsonly and with no knots common to all strands, will pass the cleaner onthe packaging machine and the redraw operation to break the former largeknots is unnecessary. Furthermore, packaging is continuous as there areno wrapped strands and no need to tie knots at this point. This is alsoa considerable saving in time and labor and makes it possible to packagemechanically with uniform tension and without hidden knots whichheretofore caused knitting difficulties.

One form of the improved type of multiple strand, multiple twist silkthread suitable for hosiery tram, generally represented at I5 in Figure1, has four strands generally indicated at Il, I1, I8 and I9, certainstrands having knots 20. Such thread has each strand separate andcontinuous and with each strand under uniform tension and twist. It isespecially suitable for knitting of hosiery which I carry out on asuitable i knitting machine of usual type, and I feed the which it isformed into the desired fabric or leg blank generally shown at 22 inFigure 2.

The carriersiand the eyes of the needles are the source of most dimcultyin knitting. If a knot catches, the thread breaks or if the knots untiethe partially finished leg blank is discharged or pressed-ofi themachine and that unit of the machine is stopped. As a leg blank may bepartially finished, and as it is extremely difficult to continueknitting, the partially finished portion is either unwound and thethread partially lalvaged or the portion is discharged to waste. Withthe three carrier system of knitting, the losses are Very great.

In knitting from the improved yarn with no knots common to all strands,the entire thread, regardless of length, will pass the carriers andthrough the knitting needles so that I can continuously make the legportions of the stockings 24 without press-offs or rejects due to knots,the welts 24a and foot portions 2lb being separately finished as is wellknown. As shownin Figure 4, the multiple courses 26 are laid in anydesired pattern and in the single carrier system, each course will bemade from the same thread, whereas if a three carrier system is used,each three courses will be formed from separate threads.

The single strand knots 20, of which there may be several in a threadlong enough to make twenty-four stockings as is commonly practiced, thenappear in the finished stocking somewhat as shown in Figure 4. Silk isknown to have some variation in size anda single strand knot in amultiple strand, multiple twist thread is so insignificant that it willnot be seen under normal conditions. They are also so small that they donot normally cause rejects or re-classication with the result that allstockings made from my thread are uniform in quality insofar as thethread is concerned.

It is to be understood that because I eliminate press-offs from threadsbreaking at knots or knots untying, I am able to get full production onthe knitting machines and asvall hosiery is of uniformly high quality,reject and press-off losses are eliminated. Furthermore, my unitoverhead costs for machines and labor isalso reduced with the resultthat I can save a high percentage of the cost of production by myimproved knitting methods. 5

I am not limited in the type of thread as I can satisfactorily .knitfrom any multiple strand, multipletwist thread. The common hosiery tramsare in the range of three to twelve strands, although I can knit othersizes equally as well. The lower number of strands are for the sheer legportions of stockings which are especially satisfactory when produced bymy methods. In the higher number of strands which are used for welts andfoot portions, the absence of knots common to all strands is alsodesirable.

While it is preferable to tie the breaks in the individual strands inthe throwing machines where the raw silk is manufactured into yarnsuitable for knitting, the individual strands may be tied at any otherpoint in the manufacture of the yarn up to the point where the yarn goesthrough the eye of the knitting machine needle. It is within thecontemplation of my invention, for example, to repair breaks in themultiple ply thread which may occur at any time prior to the passage ofthe thread through the carrier of the knitting machine as by separatingthe individual strands of thread at the point of the break, tying thestrands individually at spaced points along the thread and retwistingthe thread so as to permit its passage through the eye of the needle.

It is also possible to tie two or more strands at the same time althoughI prefer not to as the more strands tied at one point, the larger theknot. I have found however. that if not more than two-thirds of thestrands of four or more strand thread are tied at the same point, thereis no material objection to the thread passing the usual knot detectorsor the carriers or needles of the knitting machines.

Although my invention is especially suitable with natural silk as suchfiber is usually of limited length and is commonly doubled and twistedand knotted to produce the minimum length thread suitable for commercialoperation of knitting machines, it is also applicable to such otherartificial silk fibers or mixtures of fibers which have substantiallythese same characteristics of natural silk.

While I have described a preferred form oi embodiment of my invention, Iam aware that many other modications can be made thereto and I amdesirous of obtaining a broad interpretation of my invention within thescope and spirit of the disclosure herein and of the claims appendedhereinafter.,

I claim:

1. The method of continuously producing natural silk stockings withoutpress-offs or rejects, such stockings having no knots common to allstrands of the thread, single strands having knots at breaks orrun-outs, which comprises the stops of winding separate strands ofnatural silk of a length sufficient to make a multiple number of Wholestocking leg portions, doubling similar strands, tying knots in case ofbreaks in not more than two-thirds of the strands at any one pointduring doubling and prior to a point of twist, packaging the multiplestrand lthread with a spool for spool transfer to eliminate knots Commonto all strands, and subsequently knitting the thread into a multiplenumber of whole stockings.

2. The method of continuously knitting hosiery which comprises the stepsof winding, doubling, twisting, tensioning and packaging a continuousnatural silk thread having no knots common to al1 strands, tyingindependent knots in the single strands at breaks or run-outs indoubling and prior to 'any twisting or tensioning, continuously feedingsuch thread through a carrier to needles and operating said needlestolay up a plurality of courses whereby a continuous knitted fabricconsisting of a plurality of stocking leg portions is produced having noknots common to all strands in any course, separate strands having knotsblended into the thread.

3. The method of continuously producing a multiple number of naturalsilk stockings having I no knots common to all strands of the thread.which comprises producing a package of silk thread equivalent to apredetermined number of stockings without a knot common to all strandsby doubling a number of separate strands into a single thread and tyingeach strand broken during doubling solely to its own source, andknitting said thread into a Whole number of stockings. l

4. The method of continuously knitting a plu rality of natural silkstocking leg portions of the full fashioned type having no knots commonto all strands, which comprises winding single strands of natural silkof a length substantially equal to but greater than the length of threadrequired for the plurality of leg portions, doubling said single strandsinto a doubled strand equivalent in length to the final thread, stoppingthe doubling at a single strand break before the broken strand reaches apoint of twist, tying a single strand knot in the broken strand,subsequently continuing the doubling including twisting said knotted andunknotted strands for the remainder of their lengths with the knotadjacent continuous portions of more than one-third of the other strandsand subsequently knitting said thread into a whole number of Stockingleg portions.

MAURICE A. SALEMBIER, JR.

Patent, No. 2,123,971 Grant/ed July 19, 1938 Y MAURICE ALBERT SALEMBIER,JR.

The above y'entitled patent, was extended February 26, 1952, undef theprovisions of the 'act of June 30, 1950, for 6 years and 32 days fromthe expiration of the original term thereof.

Commissioner of Patents.

